Animal trap



E. O. M CULLY Feb; 18; 1930..

ANIMAL TRAP Filed March 6, 1928 I gvmwflov 1 20. I7 lull 7 Patented Feb. 18, 1930 UNITED STATES ERNEST O. MGCULLY, OF KALISPELL, MONTANAANIMAL TRAP Application filed March 6,

This invention relates to animal traps of that class in which a box orcasing is provided closed at one end and having a door at the other, thedoor being urged by a spring to a g'kclosed position, and ananimal-actuated latch being provided for releasing the door.

The general object of the present invention is to provide an animal trapof this character which is soconstructed that the door, when open,extends downward in an approximately horizontal position to form arunway for the animal, the door being provided with wings preventing theanimal from catching his leg or tail between the door and the sides of vthe box. p

A further object is to provide a latching device of a very simplecharacter disposed, except for the trip, entirely upon the exterior ofthe box, and which is so constructed that it may be adjusted so that thelatch will be either heavy or light. A still further object is to soconstruct a trap of this character that itmay be readily collapsed intoa flat condition for transportation or readily set up. i V 7 Otherobjects will appearin the course of the following description.

My invention is" illustrated in panying' drawing, wherein Figure 1 is aside elevation of a trap constructed in accordance with myinvention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section thereof; V

Figure 3 is a horizontal longitudinal section thereof. V l p Referringto this drawing, 10 designates'a box or casing which is rectangular incross section and may have any desired length.

This box or casing-is formed witha top'll,

bottom 12, the side walls 13, and an end wall 14 which ispreferablydoubleand formed of wire netting disposed in a frame 15, These parts areheld together by clamping bolts 16 passing through transverse bars 17 ofmetal in the manner shown, the bars 17 engaging across the top andbottom of the trap and the bolts 16 extending down at the sides of thetrap. I This construction makes it a very easy matter to disassemble thetrap for packing or to quickly put it together and this the accom- 1928.Serial No. 259,526.

floor is a spring hinge and may be of ordinary construction and. one ormore hinges 1 may be used, as desired, depending upon the size of thetrap, and the strength of'the spring will also depend somewhat upon thesize of the trap. The action of the spring is to close the doorv andwhen the door is closed, that'is, when the dooris in a verticalposition, it is held closed by a spring latch, designated generally 21,this latch having a portion extend- 1 ing down through a slot 22 in thetop of the trap and formed with a detent 23, this detent being beveledupon its forward face to permit the door to pass itand lift the springlatch but at itsinner end having a straight portion or shoulder 2-1engaging behind the 'door when the door is closed and preventing animalinside. 7

Forthe purpose of latching the door in its lowered position to receivean animal, I provide the latch rod or bolt 25. This bolt at its innerendis'flexibly connected tooan arm'36 the door frombeing again opened bythe .of a trip 37. This trip 37 is upwardly curved or slightlycrank-shaped within the-box and ordinarily is disposed as close to thefloor 12 as possible, the other end 38 of the trip extending out'throughan opening in the box so 9 that thus the trip is pivotally mounted.Resting upon this trip is the platform 39 which may be supported bymeans of hinges or straps 40 attached to the floor. This trip plate orplatform 39 rests upon the crank 37 and when an animal enters the boxand steps upon its trip plate, the trip will be pressed, arm 36 will bewithdrawn, and the bolt 25 will be retracted. The 'bolt 25 at 1tsforward end passes through a guide eye 41 plate39 or the trap may befilled with'mate vment of parts without departing from the jectinglaterally from the door 18. When the bolt is projectedthrough said eyes,it is obvious'that' the door cannot movefupward, but these'cond'that thebolt is retracted beyond the eye 42, thedoor will be released and willpromptly close with considerable Iviolence.

No bait holder is provided, though one can be secured if necessary, asthe. bait for this trap Will be simply thrown intothe interior of thetrap, of course beyond't-he trip 7 rials such as used by animals formaking 'serted in the eye nests so that anlianimaltwillenter the trap 11in order to pass the night and Will operate :the ttrip plate and be'caught; The door is f" provided with a handle t3 whereby the door maybeopenedJ. When it isdes-ired to open 20 thedoor and reset the trip thelatch 21 is pulled upward and the door pulled downward to itshorizontal'position and the latch 1nfor use. 7

It Will be seen that this trap may be shipped-or c'arriedin a collapsedcondition and maybe Very readily set up' wit'h'out the *necessity ofusing anyjtools' except *an'ail or screw-driver for turning the bolts.Itperunits a trapper to haul alar'ge number of traps in a ca-rior boator sled, Furthermore,"

v ifa relatively large animal iscaught in the breaking up' of the trapin order to gett'he V trapwhich would ordinarilynecessitate the animal,the trap maybe readily disassembeld therefrom. 7 r I @When the "trap isset, theappearance of the V {trap is'very neat and the animalroan-easily crawl-up on'top and from there can see into i the trap-andget acquainted with :the trap As a matter of fact, animalsare more'likely' to crawl on the top of the trap and look in q than they arefromiany-other point, I have I A v of, being raised in the air, whichtends :to

found-in long experience- The door, instead prevent theanimalifroinlooking in,zis low er -1 red tothe floor so that the animal can ireadily.look into the interior ofzthe trap either wh'ile .on topor on theground, The wire screen I permits light .to: get into;the interioriofthe trap so that the animal can see-into the trap;

. "Thegfenders or Wings 191 have founolmpar- ,ticuIarly valuable for thereason that they prevent the doorfrom'catching on the tail @lor foot ofthe animal and thereby injur- 'ing the animal and 'jpossibly leaving thedoor open. By'making the door open downwardin'to a horizontalposition,the'traps do not haveto be made so large and there is nodangerlof the door injuring the 1 animal.

" When-adoor drops, as infother traps known to me,.the animalistlikelyzto jump backand in many cases gets underthe door, Thiscannothappen with 'mytrap. t placing the animals climb on topvofa trapto look in." It

42. The trap is then: ready.

trigger or trip arm at the side of the trap, there is less danger of thetrip arm being operated thanthere iswhenthe trip arm is placed on thetop of the I trap, as many will be particularly noted that the triggercan be set either lightorfheavy by inserting .5 it a greater or lessdistanceii nto the eye 42.

The less the trigger isinserted-in'the eye42, 1 l

thewquicker the trap will operate or the lighter the pressure requiredto operateit.

section, a door hingedtothe bottom at one 8 end of the box and adaptedto "close this end of the box, a spring urging the door to a closed.position, a latch permitting the move .ment of the door-to aclosedposition but preventing the'opening of the 'door,- tri-p means jfor latching the door in an open 'position comprising a longitudinally'shift'able bolt,

a guide on the bottomof the box through which the" bolt passes,.an eyeon the door fintoiwhich the bolt is adaptedto'project when 9 the door isopened, and a trip mounted within the :box rearwardof thedoor and'havinga ,crank arm extending outward of the box w and operativelyzengagedwith' said bolt.

2'. trap ofathe character described com :p'risingfia box rectangular incross section having a panel at one :end through :which light may pass,a vdoor hinged upon the bottom of the boxand disposed at the end remotefrom said last named end, a spring urging the door to a closed position,a-ispring latch holding the door when iti's in closed position i frombeing opened,,trip means for latching the dooriin its open positionagainst 'the bottom of the box comprising a 'pi voted trip memberdisposed within tlie boziz andhaving an arm extendingfradially therefromupon;

' the exterior of the box, a bolt flexibly connected'to said arm,aguide'eye on the floor .beyond'fthe sides of the v box through a whichi i said bolt slides, and an eyeprojecting lateral; 1 v

1y from the free end of the idoor'into which;

said bolt isadapted to be-projected.

3. A trap having a bottom sides and'top the'bottom' and top extendingatone end'beie Q yond the sides, the trap-' having a closure at-theother end, a doorhinged to the 'bottom'f.

Ofthe trap at'a pointlcloselyadjacent-the ends of the sides,thedoor-being urged to; a

"closed position "by a 'spring',' sector shaped wings carried by'thedoor on each side therei of and having a radius equal to the: height "ofthedoor, a latch yielding topermit the passage of the door to a closed.position and latching the door from rearward movement i When closed,means for looking the door in a lowered position against the bottom, anda trip disposed Within the interior of the trap and adapted to releasesaid locking means When actuated by an animal to permit the door toclose.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

E. O. MGCULLY.

